It’s not often we take this much of Leaky’s space and time to celebrate a birthday, but this one is special. Today marks The Leaky Cauldron’s 10th anniversary on the Internet.

We appeared online on July 4, 2000: just four days before the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the book. Before the big bestseller split, before the first midnight party. Not many people remember Leaky in its infancy: it was a blue page with orange text, and was testing out a new Web software called Blogger.

Over the years, Leaky has morphed into an international, sprawling database of all things Harry Potter, a “wonderfully well designed mine of accurate information,” as noted by J.K. Rowling in her Fan Site Award.

In that time – to name a few of the amazing things that have happened since – Leaky has given tens of thousands of dollars to charity; it has won a Webby; opened the door for Harry Potter fans to report on the films by becoming the first and at the time only site to visit the junket and sets; it has been reported on three book releases and eight film premieres; it has printed more than 10,000 news articles; it has performed live podcasts in front of tens of thousands of people; it has thrown an epic conference, and it has been given the honor of interviewing J.K. Rowling twice, the most recent being Ms. Rowling’s only podcast interview to date. And so, so, much more.

All of that is great. We’re immeasurably grateful and proud. But none of it would have been possible without the hundreds of people who have worked here over the years, and the millions who have used the site. It has truly been a joint adventure for us, and we hope for you, too. Nothing would be possible here were it not for the fantastic group of sharp, funny, intelligent staff and users on this site; it would have been nothing without your input and interaction.

And we are celebrating with that in mind.

Over the next week, Leaky will release three things that celebrate you, the user, and allow you to more fully experience and enjoy Harry Potter through our site. One of them has been coming for a long time: registration will open for LeakyCon, our second Conference of Awesome(), to take place in Orlando, Florida, next July, the weekend of the release of the last film in the Harry Potter series. (If you missed the first one, watch this video.)

The other two, we’ll wait to show you when they are ready.

So¦ thank you. Thank you for a grand experience, and a grand adventure. Thank you for being here for a decade, or for getting here now. Thank you for all the memories; please use the thread below to relive them, or to just celebrate each other.